Availability and Plans to Raise Awareness of Egg Donor Scheme

Miss Cheng Li Hui asked the Minister for Health in cases where women are unable to conceive due to issues with their egg quality (a) what is the egg donor scheme that is currently available and whether there is sufficient awareness about it; (b) whether there are plans to raise such awareness; (c) what can be done to enhance the egg donor scheme to encourage and ensure the availability of more donors; and (d) whether mothers with spare eggs or women who froze their eggs but no longer need them can donate the eggs to other women who need them.

For women who are unable to conceive due to issues with their egg quality, there are several avenues currently available to them in obtaining donor eggs for their assisted reproduction (AR) treatment.

Altruistic egg donation is allowed in Singapore. However, due to the invasiveness of the ovarian simulation and egg retrieval procedure, there are a limited number of egg donors. AR practitioners would generally counsel their patients to seek egg donations from relatives or close friends. Alternatively, egg donations can also be received from unrelated donors, and these are frequently from women who are already undergoing their own AR treatment.

AR centres are mandated to provide counselling for couples before the start of any treatment, and to discuss, amongst other issues, the couple's wishes regarding the eggs or embryos that remain after their treatment is completed. Women who wish to donate their remaining frozen eggs or embryos to other couples can do so, and the AR centres will facilitate the egg donation at the appropriate time.